{"id":41953,"date":"2021-07-18T13:20:50","date_gmt":"2021-07-18T18:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.timesandseasons.org\/?p=41953"},"modified":"2021-08-03T23:01:31","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T04:01:31","slug":"this-is-elias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2021\/07\/this-is-elias\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThis is Elias\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

In both the Vision studied recently (D&C 76) and the first revelation studied this week (D&C 77) there is a mysterious figure referenced as Elias.\u00a0 Throughout the remainder of his ministry, Joseph Smith would use this name-title to refer to individuals who served as forerunners with preparatory or restorative responsibilities.\u00a0 But, at times, it also seemed as though he had a specific individual in mind, possibly drawing on references to the name Elias used in the King James Version of the New Testament.\u00a0 Who was this person?\u00a0 How did Joseph Smith understand his role?<\/p>\n

The revelation now known as D&C 77 was recorded in March 1832.\u00a0 As Joseph Smith worked on his New Translation of the New Testament, he came to the Revelation of St. John the Divine and dictated a series of questions and answers to explain some of the symbolism in that book.\u00a0 On two occasions, the text refers to Elias.\u00a0 In answering the question, \u201cWhat are we to understand by the angels<\/span>\u00a0ascending\u00a0from the east Rev\u00a07. Chap. & 2 verse?\u201d, the text responds: \u201cWe are to understand that the angel ascended from\u00a0the east is he to whom is given the seal of the\u00a0living God over the tweleve tribes of Israel\u00a0\u2026 this is\u00a0the<\/span>\u00a0Elias which\u00a0was to come to\u00a0gether\u00a0to gether the tribes of Israel\u00a0and restore all things.\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 In answering the question, \u201cWhat are we to understand by the little book which was\u00a0eaten by John as mentioned in the 10th<\/sup><\/u>.<\/sup>\u00a0Chapt<\/u>. of Rev<\/sup>\u201c, the text answers that: \u201cWe are to undeerstand that it was a Mission and an\u00a0ordinance\u00a0for him to\u00a0gather\u00a0the tribes of Israel\u00a0Behold\u00a0this is Elias who as it is written must come and\u00a0restore all things.\u201d[2]<\/a> \u00a0In both occasions here, Elias is referenced as someone who was slated to \u201crestore all things\u201d and to be involved in the gathering of Israel.<\/p>\n

Like D&C 77, most of the early references to Elias appear in connection with Joseph Smith\u2019s New Translation of the Bible.\u00a0 A year prior to the question and answer document, Joseph Smith had begun work on revising The Gospel According to Saint Matthew.\u00a0 While working on the account of the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17, Joseph Smith expanded the text where it discusses the appearance of Elias and Moses with Jesus.\u00a0 When the disciples ask \u201cwhy then say the scribes that Elias must first come?\u201d Jesus responds in the King James Version that: \u201cElias truly shall first come, and\u00a0restore<\/span>\u00a0all things.\u00a0 But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they\u00a0listed<\/span>. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them,\u201d noting that: \u201cThen the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0 In Joseph Smith\u2019s version, the following portion is changed: \u201cLikewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. But\u00a0I say unto you, Who is Elias? Behold, this is Elias whom I send to\u00a0prepare the way before me. Then the Deciples understood that he spake\u00a0unto them of John the Baptist, & also of another which should come & restore all things, as\u00a0they were<\/span>\u00a0<?it is?> written by the Prophets.\u201d[4]<\/a>\u00a0 This expansion of the text links Elias both to John the Baptist and another figure that is expected to restore all things.<\/p>\n

When Joseph Smith worked on The Gospel According to St. John, chapter 1, he revised the \u201crecord of John\u201d the Baptist to include further details about Elias.[5]<\/a>\u00a0 When the priests and Levites ask John the Baptizer \u201cwho are thou?\u201d in the King James Version, John \u201cconfessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.\u00a0 And they asked him, What then?\u00a0 Art thou Elias?\u00a0 And he saith, I am not.\u00a0 Art thou that prophet?\u00a0 And he answered, No.\u201d[6]<\/a>\u00a0 In Joseph Smith\u2019s New Translation, John \u201cconfessed, and denyed not that\u00a0he was\u00a0Elias; but confessed, saying; I am not the christ. And they asked\u00a0him, saying; How then art thou\u00a0Elias? And he\u00a0saith<\/span>\u00a0<?said?>; I am not that\u00a0Elias\u00a0who was to restore all things. And\u00a0the<\/span>\u00a0<?they?> asked him, saying; Art thou that\u00a0Prophet? And he answered;\u00a0no<\/span>\u00a0<?no?>.\u201d[7]<\/a>\u00a0 This revision seems to indicate that John the Baptist was an Elias (hence him denying not), but that there was a specific Elias who was expected to restore all things that John did not claim to be.<\/p>\n

While translating John 5, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon recorded the Vision (Section 76) in response to a question about the text.\u00a0 While describing the various kingdoms of Glory, the Telestial Kingdom is noted as being the place for \u201cthey who say they are some of one and\u00a0some of another some of Christ & some of John and\u00a0some of Moses and some of Elius [Elias] and some of Esaises [Esaias] and some of Isaiah some of Enoch but received not the\u00a0gospel neither the testamony of Jesus neither the prophets\u00a0neither the everlasting covenants.\u201d[8]<\/a>\u00a0 This text includes Elias as one name among many prominent figures of the Bible that people might prioritize in importance over Jesus.\u00a0 Notably, it also gives an indication of confusion over naming conventions between the Old and New Testaments in the Bible that becomes important to this discussion\u2014that often figures from the Hebrew Bible use one version of a name (the Hebrew version) while the New Testament uses a different version of the name (the Greek version) to refer to the same person, with those variants of the names being preserved in the King James Version.\u00a0 Here, we see it with Esaias and Isaiah being referred to as separate names, even though Esaias is the Greek version of Isaiah.\u00a0 While minor, the same issue persisted in Joseph Smith\u2019s discussion of Elias and Elijah\u2014two variants of the same name.<\/p>\n

When an 1830 revelation was edited in 1835 for publication in the Doctrine and Covenants, the text was greatly expanded to emphasize the transmission of priesthood authority to Joseph Smith.\u00a0 The resulting version of the revelation is distinct enough that the Joseph Smith Papers website indicates that it is a separate revelation that became D&C 27 in the current Doctrine and Covenants.\u00a0 In listing prominent figures who will share the Sacrament of the Lord\u2019s Supper with the Saints, Elias is included as the person \u201cto whom I\u00a0have committed the keys of bringing to pass the restoration\u00a0of all things, or the restorer of all things spoken by the mouth\u00a0of all the holy prophets since the world began, concerning the\u00a0last days.\u201d\u00a0 John the Baptizer is mentioned separately as \u201cthe son of Zacharias, which Zacharias he (Elias) visited and gave promise that he should have a\u00a0son, and his name should be John, and he should be filled with\u00a0the spirit of\u00a0Elias.\u201d\u00a0 In addition, Elijah is also mentioned: \u201cand also Elijah,\u00a0unto whom I have committed the keys of the power of turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of\u00a0the children to the fathers, that the whole earth may not be\u00a0smitten with a curse.\u201d[9]<\/a>\u00a0 This 1835 revelation did three things for establishing the identity of Elias.\u00a0 First, it affirmed that John the Baptist, while \u201cfilled with the spirit of Elias,\u201d was a separate person from Elias.\u00a0 Second, it linked Elias with the figure of Gabriel, the angel who visited Zacharias.\u00a0 Third, it clearly established Elias as a separate person from Elijah.<\/p>\n

The following spring, after the dedication of the House of the Lord in Kirtland, Ohio, Joseph Smith\u2019s journal contains a record of a series of visions during a worship service in that temple. \u00a0Again, Elias and Elijah appear as two distinct people in his account: \u201cAfter this\u00a0Elias\u00a0appeared and committed the\u00a0dispensation\u00a0of the gospel of Abraham, saying, that in them\u00a0and their seed all generations after them should be\u00a0blessed.\u00a0After this vision had closed, another great and\u00a0glorious vision burts [burst] upon them, for Elijah, the Prophet,\u00a0who was taken to Heaven without tasting death,\u00a0also\u00a0stood before them.\u201d[10]<\/a>\u00a0 Elias and Elijah are shown as two separate people with distinct roles and keys, in this case keys related to the Abrahamic Covenant for Elias.<\/p>\n

Later, in the Nauvoo era of the Church, Joseph Smith would continue to expound on the separate roles of Elias and Elijah, as well as the spirit of their missions.\u00a0 In 1839, for example, Joseph Smith referred to multiple Elias\u2019s as restorers and prophets: “This is why Abraham blessd his posterity; he wanted to bring them into the presence of God. … In the first ages of the world they tried to establish the same thing\u2014 & there were Elias\u2019s raised up who tried to restore these very glories but did not obtain them.\u201d[11]<\/a>\u00a0 On the 10 March 1844, he elaborated on this further in a discourse where he \u201cpreached on the subject of the\u00a0spirit of <?elias?> Elijah.\u00a0Elias<\/span>\u00a0& Mesiah\u00a0clearly defini[n]g the offices of the 3\u00a0personages.\u201d[12]<\/a>\u00a0 The spirit of Elijah was related to the sealing authority or the Holy Spirit of Promise, so \u201cthis power of Elijah is to that of\u00a0Elias\u00a0what in the architecture of the Temple\u00a0of God those who seal or cement the stone\u00a0to their places are to those who cut or hew\u00a0the stones the one preparing the way for\u00a0the other to accomplish the work.\u201d[13]<\/a>\u00a0 In other words, \u201cthe Spirit of\u00a0Elias\u00a0is a forerunner\u00a0same as John the Baptist\u2014 the Spirit of Elijah is the\u00a0sealing power\u2014 to seal the hearts of the Fathers to the\u00a0children\u2014 and the children to the Parents.\u201d[14]<\/a>\u00a0 In these sermons, Elias is equated with restoration and preparation, while Elijah was connected to sealing families.<\/p>\n

In light of the fact that Elias is just the Greek form of the name Elijah, the texts that we\u2019ve discussed become somewhat problematic.\u00a0 Whenever Elias is mentioned in the New Testament, the authors were talking about the Hebrew prophet Elijah.\u00a0 This is most obvious in passages that reference stories, such as James 5:17<\/a> (the story of the drought), Luke 4:25-26<\/a> (the story of the widow), and Romans 11:2-4<\/a> (the story of Elijah and the priests of Baal).\u00a0 Inspecting other occasions when Elias is mentioned, however, they make more sense when linked to Elijah than someone else.\u00a0 For example, on the Mount of Transfiguration, it seems reasonable that Moses would come with Elijah\u2014making it an appearance of two of the most prominent figures of the Hebrew Bible\u2014rather than an otherwise unknown figure.\u00a0 Talking about Elias in connection with John the Baptizer is meant to say that John is the person to fulfil the prophecy in Malachi that: \u201cI will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.\u201d[15]<\/a>\u00a0 That link is explicitly stated in the Gospel According to St. Luke, when Gabriel tells Zacharias that he will have a son who will go before God \u201cin the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.\u201d[16]<\/a>\u00a0 Thus, when Joseph Smith consistently referenced Elias and Elijah as two separate individuals with distinct roles in the Lord\u2019s work who each visited him on at least two occasions, it becomes confusing.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most straightforward explanation is that Joseph Smith simply misunderstood the New Testament and believed that Elias was a separate person from Elijah because the names are not presented exactly the same way (as seems to also be the case in Section 76 with Esaias and Isaiah).\u00a0 Based on this misunderstanding, he developed a whole system of thought around this mysterious person that was mentioned throughout the New Testament as Elias.\u00a0 While a straightforward explanation, it\u2019s not very satisfying for believing Latter-day Saints, since it implies that Joseph Smith was making up everything that he said about Elias rather than those words being rooted in experiences with angels and revelations from God.\u00a0 While this explanation seems simple enough, it is complicated by evidence that Joseph Smith did realize that Elias in the New Testament was referring to Elijah (see the further reading section for discussion on that).\u00a0 With that in mind, let\u2019s look at a couple other explanations.<\/p>\n

One explanation is that there was another individual named Elias that we don\u2019t know much about, but who was known to Joseph Smith.\u00a0 In Joseph Smith\u2019s time, it was common for men to be given the name Elias, including some members of the Church (Elias Higbee, Elias Smith, Elias Benner, Elias Hutchings, etc.). \u00a0Given the popularity of Elijah in ancient Israel and Judea, it\u2019s also possible that there were other people named after him in Greek-speaking regions that would go on to play a role in the Lord\u2019s work.\u00a0 This feels like a stretch to me, but still a possibility.<\/p>\n

The stronger explanation is that evidence suggests that Joseph Smith used Elias more as a title than a specific name, related to restoring all things or functioning as a forerunner to the coming of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Looking at the texts discussed above, John the Baptist, the angel Gabriel (who Joseph Smith would later link to Noah),[17]<\/a> someone associated with the Abrahamic Covenant, and John the Divine were all given this title or said to be acting in the spirit of Elias.\u00a0 While this seems to be rooted in the New Testament, where Jesus mentions Elias as someone who needs to \u201crestore\u00a0all things\u201d before the day of the Lord, the people Joseph Smith called Elias were different people who were fulfilling a similar role.\u00a0 That would be why Joseph Smith referenced there being multiple \u201cElias\u2019s\u00a0raised up\u201d in the past.[18]<\/a> \u00a0Saying that John the Baptizer was fulfilling Malachi\u2019s prophesy about Elijah, as Luke does, makes more sense in this way, since John was clearly not the same person as Elijah.\u00a0 Perhaps it could even be said that Joseph Smith used Elias as a generic name of angels visiting him as part of the restoration (which could explain why we don\u2019t know much about the person who visited Joseph Smith in the House of the Lord in Kirtland).\u00a0 While these people were referred to as Elias in the revelations, sermons and texts that come to us from Joseph Smith, the name may have just been a reference to their role in the restoration of all things, related to one aspect of Elijah\u2019s mortal ministry (when he kept the worship of Yahweh alive at a time it was threatened by Baal worship, restoring it to its rightful place at the heart of Israelite religion).<\/p>\n

Those are the main explanations that I can think of to explain the use of Elias and Elijah as separate people by Joseph Smith.\u00a0 What do other people think, however?\u00a0 Are there other explanations?\u00a0 What makes sense to you? \u00a0Am I missing anything here that should be discussed?<\/p>\n

Further Reading:<\/strong><\/p>\n